During his weekly presidential address Ecuadorean President discussed the recent destablilization attempts by the right-wing opposition. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has accused the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of being involved in opposition protests in the country with the aim of dragging it into chaos. “There is a CIA presence there [in Ecuador’s opposition] which has a goal of weakening the government,” Correa said on Saturday during his weekly presidential address.

According to Ecuador’s president, the opposition in the country is trying to do everything possible to exhaust the government ahead of the elections, knowing that Ecuadorean authorities enjoy public support. Correa stated that the protest marches formed part of the strategy of the “most conservative groups of the opposition”, using social movements to try and “wear down” his government. In Quito and seven other cities, protesters rallied last Thursday against President Correa’s policies calling for changes to economic and labour policies. Violent incidents by right-wing protesters were reported.

During his televised speech, Correa informed the public that he had been the victim of aggression in the city of Riobamba on Thursday, following the inauguration of a local health centre. President Correa, who was “leading a caravan of supporters”, was violently approached by opposition protesters who tried to attack him and injured two of those supporting him with bottles and stones. In his presidential address, Correa also alluded to early signs that the opposition is seeking to undermine his administration. Opposition mayors of the country’s major cities, Quito and Guayaquil, Mauricio Rodas and Jaime Nebot respectively, recently met, in which they signed a manifesto calling on all Ecuadoreans to join them in “restoring democracy.”

Despite the recent destabilization efforts by the Ecuadorean opposition, a recent international survey conducted by the Association of Political Communication found that the president received 79 percent approval making him the world’s second most popular president of Ecuador. In 1963, the U.S. intelligence led a military coup in Ecuador, against the leftist President Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy, after the leader criticised the U.S. Government and showed its support to Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba. In 2013, the Ecuadoran news agency ANDES, reported that the CIA was planning to murder Correa and destabilise the country in retaliation for the removal of a U.S. military base from the country in 2009, as well as his decision to grant asylum to WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.

Originally published by teleSUR at: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Correa-Accuses-CIA-of-Destabilization-Efforts-in-Ecuador-20150322-0006.html.